iPhone 18 pro max cellular issues

I have been dealing with this for a week and have the 17 Pro Max with iOS 27 and dual numbers on my phone. Have done everything with AT&T to attempt resolution. Received 6 updated eSIM, reset network, refreshed cellular- all of it. Referred to apple. Went there they ran all the things, reset my phone to factory and oh guess what said there’s nothing wrong with my phone and advised me apple and att are aware and I just need to wait for an update to drop. Left with no service in SOS mode. Now. I can’t even log into most accounts via Wi-Fi because they reset my phone and I cannot receive the security codes because my phone has no service. %$&@!!!!!!!!

this is my second 18 pro max in 5 days. each time the phone lasts 1-2 days and then goes into esim failure and i need to make an appt at apple store for replacement. Which means i need to be on wifi to text or use internet, it will not make calls even on wifi, cannot text anyone who doesn't use iMessage or with an android. Frustrating thing is the store takes days to get into, most of the time they don't have phones in stock since they need the exact same one you have, color and all and the closest one to me is an hour away. apple needs to figure this out asap!

I am running into this issue too. AT&T store replaced the eSIM but it didn’t fix the issue. I went to Apple Store where they ran the diagnostic and said antenna shows failed and needs replacement. They cannot replace the phone as I have financing and have to repair it. Did anyone else have problem getting device replaced at Apple Store? The part takes 3-5 days to ship to the store

Try switching to LTE.

iPhone > Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data > LTE restart device.

Some users have reported switching Airport mode on for a minute or so resolved their issue.

Have you tried resetting your network settings? Fo you use a VPN?

Have the same problem since day 1. 18 Pro Max on AT&T. AT&T Support issued me a new eSIM this morning and confirmed the phone still had no data signal. It also will not receive calls or texts. After an hour of troubleshooting I downgraded back to my 17 Pro Max. They said no ETA on fix so I am probably going to return the 18 Pro Max while I’m still in the window.

Received my new phone today from Apple. So far so good. Hopefully it stays this way. It seems that getting a new phone is the only way to get around it. Good luck everyone

Before visiting the Apple Store yesterday, I ran the Mobile Resource Inspector and everything passed. When the Apple Store ran the RF diagnostic in their back room, the test could not finish. The phone needs to sit inside an isolation box to block store interference during testing. Even if the Mobile Resource Inspector shows all green checks, the device can still fail an in-store RF diagnostic.

This happened to me yesterday after having a fully functioning 18 Pro Max for a few days. Went to the store and on my way home I noticed it was in SOS mode. Tried airplane mode to fix, but it stayed. Waited an hour for it to resolve itself thinking maybe there was a at&t tower issue on my area. Finally called at&t and they walked me through everything they could do on their end. They even reissued me new eSIMs and that didn’t work. Then started a ticket and told me that someone would be in touch in 24/48 hours, but not sure how they were gonna call my phone when I’m at work because I don’t have wifi outside.

Today I drove to an actual at&t store to see what they could do, and no offense, but the people working there could’ve been flipping burgers a week ago and their sole job is to sell phones, not fix them. They too were stumped. I had to add another line and purchase a phone because I need a phone for work so waiting until who knows when for a fix was out of the question. Decided on an older 17 Pro Max for now while my 1800 brick does nothing.

after at&t I drove to an Apple Store and there they told me that there were plenty of others experiencing this issue and their first try at fixing it after running diagnostics was to reboot the phone fresh and start over. It worked for about 2 minutes letting me make calls and then BAM! Right back to SOS mode again. The guy at Apple ordered me a new phone and told me it’ll be in in about 3-5 days. No charge. This absolutely sucks. Wondering if it’s time to take my 6 lines and move to Verizon or T-Mobile.

jimbob04 wrote:

this is my second 18 pro max in 5 days. each time the phone lasts 1-2 days and then goes into esim failure and i need to make an appt at apple store for replacement. Which means i need to be on wifi to text or use internet, it will not make calls even on wifi, cannot text anyone who doesn't use iMessage or with an android. Frustrating thing is the store takes days to get into, most of the time they don't have phones in stock since they need the exact same one you have, color and all and the closest one to me is an hour away. apple needs to figure this out asap!

If your carrier is AT&T, it's not Apple who needs to figure this out, it's AT&T who needs to figure this out. You're not evidently alone, but not everyone on AT&T is having this issue. I'm sure it's quite frustrating if you are. You need to push AT&T to resolve this issue. T-Mobile and Verizon and other carriers aren't having this issue, which means it's not an issue with the phone.

Since activating my 18 Pro Max, I have had connection issues, text messages not being received for 24 hours while others would come through. Siri AI in car play not working because siri say "it can not find a connection". Apple tried to remote into the phone and the connection was denied. AT&T blamed Apple, Apple blamed AT&T, in the end Apple had to escalate to engineering to replace the phone, which is now a month away. So I have to live with this problem for another month.

I went to the Apple Store to see what they could do on Friday. They ran all the tests and found nothing wrong with the phone but decided to exchange the phone regardless. They didn’t have any in stock to replace it so it was ordered and hopefully will arrive very soon. In the meantime, I found this video on YouTube that explains that it actually may be Apple‘s issue making AT&T look back because up until now it has been looking very much so that it was AT&T’s problem. Not taking sides, just posting this as it may help:

https://youtu.be/IU7N2gmDx9c?is=JYfGCp_BGDQm5AF8

TL:DR iOS 27.0.1 update coming possible tomorrow that will address the SOS/eSIM issue along with failing Face ID authentication, random freezes/reboots, and unresponsive touchscreen (which I experienced yesterday).

Good luck to everyone! Maybe we’ll be able to use our phones soon! SMH

Turn on wifi calling. Seemed to make the network turn back on for me for whatever reason.

Yup! Same issue I had. My phone was stuck on SOS no matter what. Rebooted. Reset. Nothing fixed it. Went back to Apple store and returned it and went back go my iPhone 17 Pro max.

My phone has been on SOS all morning. ATT said it was a bug the new iphones are experiencing. They don't have an exact time on when it'd be fixed but there estimating between 24-72 hrs.